(no subject)

[themurderbird]

I have a lot of information to share. I hope all of you have also been keeping careful notes and sharing everything you have discovered!

That was something at Pompel & Swint’s yesterday. Ice does seem to do the trick. Whatever this force is, certainly seems out to do harm, but why did it target Swint? I would talk to him, but I don't know him very well, so I'm not sure it would do much good. Would someone like to volunteer?

We spoke to Pocket. She called me an "incandescent little scholar". She repeatedly mentioned "him". I'm not sure who she is referring to precisely, but I assume he's the one behind the vines and the fire, or at least aligned with it. She said they thought they had to see all of him to defeat him, but the weeds (he is the weeds?) grows like a bad rumor that gets worse the more he's talked about. "The only way to stay safe is not to look." They (?) used her to catch him, and she was bound. Now, she has to talk around it to say anything at all. The muggles (she called them the humans we hide from) sought "infinity" but found it "somewhere strange". She said something like that is hungry, that it eats and eats. I believe this is perhaps what happened to Paw Paw. She said they pushed it back and "knit its mouth closed" (she used the word knit specifically, perhaps relevant to mentions of tailors etc?). She said it cost a lot and she has held it closed alone. But then recently, something like her in a place with a heart died. She had to help fill the wound it left, and something slipped out. "They" told her that the only way to prepare was to stay in the dark, though. Which, frankly? No thank you.

I almost forgot, I heard Ms. Altizer and Dr. Huang talking to Mr. Qualls on Friday, before Mr. Zahidi had to fill in in the computer lab. He was glitching and asking whether anyone in his extended family was left in Elflock Falls. Bryce is safe, but Marilynn's brother is still there? Does anyone know the relevance of that? Why would his extended family matter?

Another odd thing. I tried to talk to Lir Liu about the history of the bowling alley. Aside from the moonshine running, brawls, wand duels, foiled robberies, gunfights, and sentient bowling balls, there was a fire in the late 80's. That seems relevant. Additionally, when I mentioned the kidnappings, he seemed like he almost didn't remember them? He had that "oh yeah, that!" sort of attitude. Frankly, it was very offensive. I suppose it's possible he's on some mind altering drug, though I haven't seen any evidence of it. More likely something odd is at play.

I'm going back down into that basement. I work at the bowling alley, so it shouldn't be hard for me to find a way in. I will need at least one person from each house to accompany me, because I plan to experiment with the hatch. At a minimum, you should be capable of freezing charms. If you would like to accompany me, please reply below and detail your relevant skills. I can't take more than a few, or we'll be caught. I'll let the winners you know in a few days if I'd like you to join. And remember, as Snoop Crupp says in "Keepers Got Game", snitches get stitches!

Comments

[numerologest]

Tree branches
Still hang here.
He's found them,
He sees

The blood still
Runs thick it
Will open
The seam.

Where cauldrons
Are boiling
The flames lick
The sides

To eat up
The tree that
With this bough
Will die.

That was the verse from Snoop Crupp. I got it from Ms. Altizer at [...] great personal cost, just so you know. I asked her to help me decipher it with Arithmancy, and we got 60% chance that the blood of the tailor will pull out the stitches.

I think the verse is talking about a family tree, and warning about the fire at Pompel & Swint. So someone at Pompel & Swint is related to Qualls.

[necrodanseuse]

[...] Marilynn?

[numerologest]

Yeah. [...] Or, well, her brother.

[necrodanseuse]

I happened to have a vision about her last night. Right when the fire was happening. She was crying. [...] I mean I think it was her, and all. Then I flashed back to what I’d seen before.

And then my cicada left me, which I’m a little bitter over, it could’ve at least remained a necklace.

[numerologest]

Saw Pocket do something to Swint after they pulled him out of the fire. The older brother was like, "You gotta give it back to him..." Maybe she took it back?

Sorry about that. Was a nice necklace.

[necrodanseuse]

That stands to reason.
The memories must exist with Pocket but also here, in our shells. Safekeeping, something like that?

Ah, it’s all right. Everyone grows out of bug jewelry.

Also what was the personal cost? Was Ms. Altizer mean to you? Shall I water bomb her again?

[themurderbird]

Are the shells little memory flash drives?

[necrodanseuse]

With awfully strange password protocol

[nublada]

Ohhhhhhh.

Curious that Mr. Potkin dropped one when we [...] spoke with him. Was someone actively removing his memory??

[numerologest]

2-Factor Authentication, maybe? Leave it to the bugs to have good security.

Oh, she [...] I just had to [...] perform the version of the verse I had to her satisfaction.

[themurderbird]

You what?

[necrodanseuse]

Sort of good. It begs the question why we’re finding them this year.

Oh, encore. Please

[tristfully]

Do you think we're allowed to give them back then?

I have Mr. Crockett's but I doubt he wants to talk to us right now.

[quidditched]

Think we should.

[...] Or at least open the ones we've found.

[quodpotted]

uugghhhhhh

[themurderbird]

If it were my memory, I would want it back.

[numerologest]

Pocket seemed reluctant to give them back, but I think she saw it was the right thing, in the end.

Wish there was a way we could [...] see if they want em.

[themurderbird]

Oh! That's wonderful, Adrian! Thank you so much.

Yes, I agree. The tree branches are family tree, and it's Quall's family tree. Is family blood what will open the seam? Oh, perhaps seam in this case has two meanings (coal and sewing)! So, where the cauldrons are boiling, that was Pompel and Swint's. So, is Swint Qualls' brother in law? Does "he" not want the seam open then, if he was trying to kill off the family tree?

[numerologest]

Hm. I think that's the big question, isn't it? What does He want? I think it could go either way. But, maybe he's trying to keep everything closed? To keep [...] Mr. Qualls's son captured?

[themurderbird]

Then why was Lionel Qualls sewn into the (hopefully metaphorical) mouth? A sacrifice?

[tristfully]

I'm really not being funny.

But it's slightly odd that Mr. Potkins is responsible for teaching sewing now.

[numerologest]

He figures into this somehow, right? He has to.

[themurderbird]

He was involved with the original incident. He went to school here then, right?

[tristfully]

Yes. Class of '89.

I think he was Lionel Qualls' best friend.

[wrencredible]

The bees have been working on some poetry too, but I haven't checked in on them lately.

It's very unfinished, so don't judge them too harshly. Let me see...

four homes to take flight
four elements to end a blight

though stealing memories a crime
singing or not, will not stop time

I was thinking of filing it under topical apoidean rhymes when they're done.